The "vertigo" is the entire issue though. The 3D element is why this part of the quest is nonsense and doesn't actually apply to any part of the game. At best, It's "developing skills" that have no bearing on the rest of this game.

There are NO bosses in this game that are fought either in the air or in the water. No raid encounters. Having to dodge pulsating red aoe in 3 dimensions while weaving around them to get to the blue orbs is not only extremely difficult for many, it has no similarities to any other skill check in this game. And don't even get me started on the wonky opacity settings on the orbs or just how clunky this game handles movement in 3 dimensions to begin with...

I've used this comparison in Dark's thread, but it's like having to get a Scuba license to drive a car. 100% different.

I'm just going to point out that zone event boss for West Ember Isle is underwater. I don't remember her name anymore or the combat specifics, but she has this aoe high damage attack where you had to swim into protective bubbles to avoid being one-shot or whatever. That was the most difficult part for me and I imagine a number of other players, because it was difficult to determine in the heat of combat, trying to swim to the nearest bubble that suddenly spawned, whether you were IN the stupid bubble unless you swiveled your camera wildly to all angles.

Remember that West Ember Isle was released as a 3D combat experiment before the Nightmare Tide water plane. That zone event was one of the least popular (besides the Tyrant's Throne event), wonder why? And Nightmare Tide was designed as mostly land-based because of that.

As for these particles, I hope more testing can be done and maybe Trion can figure out if certain classes/setups/etc. do make avatars fall faster than others. I had to try 8-9 times on my warrior before getting those 15, and it was annoying as all heck because I felt like I was falling way too fast for the spammed skills to actually activate. There was that fall/jump-gather-spirit-whatever quest in Planetouched Wilds that was better, but I don't remember the quest specifics now.

I like that this quest objective isn't blatantly P2W like the Wicket one is and isn't mindlessly grindy and is something different, but at the same time I can see it giving problems to people beyond their own control. It seems most of the issues people are having stems from Rift's graphics being very poor at rendering depth on the Z axis and issues with vertigo.

A far better idea would have been to have to get from point A to point B on a horizontal plane without running into red areas that change rapidly. This game is much better at distinguishing bad areas on the ground than in the air. Or do a solo replication of bosses that involve situational awareness and staying out of bad.

I don't think they'll actually change anything, but I felt like typing anyway.

Particle quest is complete nonsense. Hated every last second of it. The camera view kept changing. My character seemed to travel in anything but a straight line. Not looking forward to doing it again. Will have to think on if I want to subject myself that level of frustration. Put them on the ground or something. Anything but this variable speed falling crap with wonky camera angles.

Check how you have your camera set up. I think the default is that it snaps back to front view when you let go of your mouse buttons. You can set that under your interface settings. Might make it a little easier for you.

The struggle is real

Just wanted to confirm that the struggle is real, for some players.
I am aware of a few folks who, for either age, disability, vertigo (I don't know specifics) were unable to physically complete this task. They had to share their account log-in information with other players (talk about trust!) so that someone could complete it for them.

My struggle to advance from 20 particles to 25 is not an issue.
But players having to ask other players to log in for them to complete this, is.